Mindy Kaling And Emma Thompson Shatter The 'Late Night' Glass Ceiling

Thompson plays a successful TV host who pulled the ladder up behind her in the movie Late Night. Kaling says a female late night host is "science fiction," but this was the role she wanted to write.

by Michel MartinJun 15, 20194 minutes

There's a funny thing about late night TV, says Mindy Kaling. Watching these shows, "there's such a joie de vivre" — but it's at odds with the "ruthlessness and mercilessness" that goes into making the show behind the scenes. "I was obsessed with how all these people could be working so hard and be so competitive to make a product that is so entertaining and light," Kaling says.

Kaling explores that dichotomy — and the racism, ageism and sexism of television — in her new film Emma Thompson stars as talk show host Katherine Newbury, a once-popular comic who broke through the glass ceiling of late-night comedy, only to